What If there was One More
Chapter 3
"The Most Precious of Gifts"
By Lady Yagami-Sama


Mr. Popo stood facing the two young warriors, his right hand on the handle of the door leading to the time chamber. "Are you ready?" he asked at last, after a ten-minute prep on what to do in there.

The two nodded eagerly, Yakima had never been inside it before and she was a bit uncertain about what she would find, but she was still eager to go in. Mr. Popo opened the door and they walked in.

Trunks and Yakima walked in and they heard the door shut behind them. The young saiyan girl walked down the steps and stared in wonder at the emptiness before her. Trunks stood nearby, watching.

"There's nothing out there!" she exclaimed, "We're surrounded by emptiness!"

As Trunks watched her, she suddenly reminded him of himself the first time he entered this place. He decided to play the part of Vegeta. "To much for you?" he asked with a slight smirk on his face at the irony of him being like his father.

Yakima did not look at him when she answered, "I'm not sure, it's just so overwhelming! I'm not sure if I can spend a whole year in this place!"

Trunks was taken aback, she had said almost the exact same thing he had not said to his father! He admired her honesty, "That's exactly how I felt when I came here for the first time," he said, "don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine."

She turned to him then and smiled, "Thank you," she said.

Trunks just shrugged.

Yakima walked back up the steps to the living area, "Well," she said, "We can start training tomorrow, it was already late when we came in, and I'm starving. How about you?" Trunks nodded. "Good," she continued, "I'll go see what I can whip up for dinner."

"You can cook?" asked Trunks with relief, "Great, I thought I would go hungry again in here! My father never had time to eat, and I can't even make cereal!"

Yakima laughed, "Yes, I can cook, quite well, actually! Sit tight, I'll see what we've got to go with."

****

In no time at all, Trunks and Yakima were sitting down to their first meal in the hyperbolic time chamber.

"This is delicious, Yakima, where did you learn to cook like this?"

The girl smiled, "My grandmother taught me, she was a wonderful cook."

Trunks saw the pain in her eyes when she spoke. "You never mentioned you had a grandmother," he said cautiously.

Yakima looked down at her food, "Well, she wasn't my real grandmother," she said, "She was the wife of my dear master. I continued to live with her after Marakai's death, but even she could not live forever. She died only a few years ago, and since then I have been alone."

"I'm sorry," Trunks said, "I didn't mean to intrude."

Yakima looked up at him, "Oh, no, it's alright, if we are to live with each other for a year, we need to get to know each other, right?" She changed the subject quickly, "So, your mother seems nice."

Trunks nodded, "speaking of my parents," he said, "I'm sorry for the way my father acted toward you today, he can be... arrogant at times."

"Yeah, well, everyone has their down sides," she said with a smirk, "But he is a very powerful fighter, I respect him for that."

"Well, so are you," he replied, "that was impressive what you did today, not many people have managed to get the best of Vegeta, you are stronger than you think."

Their conversation continued as Trunks told Yakima of his own time, and they began to learn more about each other, until finally they decided to call it a night.

****

"So which bed is mine?" Yakima asked as they both stood between the two beds that were hung with curtains for privacy.

Trunks shrugged and walked over to the right one, "I'll take this one, if that's ok, and you can have that one."

"Fine with me," she said, walking over to her new bed and parting the curtains. She glanced over at Trunks, about to ask him something, and saw that he was stripping off his shirt. "Oh!" she exclaimed, blushing and turning her head.

Trunks noticed this and turned a bit red himself, "Oh, sorry," he said, pulling on another shirt, "I guess I'm not used to sharing a room with a girl."

Yakima shrugged, "It's ok, I was just surprised, that's all." She turned back to her bed and started to unpack the small backpack she had brought with her. She had brought only the bear necessities from her planet; a few extra pairs of clothes, soap, shampoo, and other bathroom necessities. But there was one thing that she brought that was very special to her, she took out a beautifully carved box and set it on her bedside table.

Trunks came up behind her and looked at it, "What's that?" he asked.

She smiled fondly and placed a loving hand on the box's surface, "My grandmother made it for me," she said, taking out a silver key and unlocking the box. When she opened it, a pretty melody began to play and two figures in fighting stances began to spin. Yakima touched one of the spinning figures carefully, this is my master, and the other is me. My grandmother made it when I was still young, I have cherished it ever since."

Trunks nodded, "It's beautiful," he said, and an awkward silence followed. "Well," he said at last, "We had better get some rest, we need to begin our training in the morning. Good night," and with that he went back to his bed and drew the curtains.

****

Yakima woke up to strange noises invading her ears. She got out of bed, dressed quickly and went to see what was making so much racket. She stood at the top of the stairs and watched a super saiyan Trunks practice his aim with kai balls. She smiled and shook her head, "Those over achievers are too much," she said to herself, and walked off to the kitchen to make some breakfast.

****

Yakima set two steaming plates of scrambled eggs on the table and called out to Trunks, "Hey, Trunks, breakfast!"

Trunks stopped in mid-stance and turned his head to her. He smiled and powered down, "Great, I'm starving!"

****

Trunks paused in shoveling food into his mouth and looked up at Yakima, noticing for the first time how daintily she ate.

Yakima felt his eyes on her and looked up, "What?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing," he replied, shaking his head, "It's just that you don't eat like other saiyans."

The girl laughed, "The one thing my grandmother never faltered in was teaching me proper etiquette. She always hated the way Marakai ate, so the day he brought me home she insisted I get rid of my 'dirty habits.'"

Trunks smiled, "Your grandmother must have been a wise woman," he said, "I'm only half saiyan and my mother could never teach me proper manners."

They laughed together for a long time and then went out to begin their training.

****

"Ready?," Trunks asked his training partner.

"Ready!" she replied and the two saiyans powered up and began sparing.

Punches and kicks were flying, as well as a number of kai blasts. Trunks was holding back a little because he didn't want to hurt the girl, but he began to get carried away and suddenly he let loose a very powerful blast that was too fast for the girl to dodge. It hit her square in the stomach, sending her flying and crashing to the floor. Trunks stopped his attack to give her time to get up, but she didn't move. He walked over to her, "You ok, Yakima?" he asked.

Still she did not answer and he began to get worried, he walked closer to her, but suddenly the girl sat up and fired a kai ball at him. He went flying and came down hard on the floor. Yakima walked over, grinning from ear to ear, "Gotcha!" she said, laughing.

Trunks got to his feet with a grunt, "That was cheating," he said.

Yakima shrugged and flipped her hair arrogantly, "All's fair in love and war," she teased.

He smiled, "You're good," he said, "But I'll never believe you're really hurt again."

"Have it your way," she replied, "Shall we continue?"

Trunks smirked, "By all means," he said, and the two saiyans trained hard for the rest of the day, preparing for the day that they would be forced to face Cell in a match that would most likely lead to death.